Submarine mine.



T. K. NORTH:

SUBMARINE MINE'.

PLICATION FILED 1 UNE21. 1917.

Patented Apr. 1, 1919;

m1: www Perma ce., rnmmumo.. wumamw. u cA UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

THOMAS KEPPEL NORTH, 0F WESTMINSTER, LONDQN, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR T0 VICKERS LIMITED, OF WESTMINSTER, ENGLAND.

SUBMIARINE MINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 1, 1919.

Application led J' une 21, 1917. Serial No. 176,061.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, THOMAS lKEPPEL NORTH, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Vickers House, Broadway, Westminster, in the county of London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Submarine Mines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to submarine mines particularly those of the kind having firing gear comprising a spring controlled striker head which is connected to its rod or stem in such a manner that it will become detached at a suitable period during the detraction of the said rod and will be impelled forward by the spring to explode the mine. In such mines when they are inter-connected by cables or the like, the connecting cable is attached directly to the striker rod or to a member rigidly connected thereto with the result that the said rod is under more or less constant reciprocatory movements, owing to recurrent increase and decrease in the tension of the connecting cable due mainly to the action of the sea currents; these reciprocatory movements may lead to the stuiiing box through which the striker rod passes becoming worn and thereby allowing seawater to leak into the mine.

According to the invention the connecting cable is attached to a spring controlled member which is connected to the striker rod in such a manner that the said rod will not be actuated until the connecting cable has been subjected to a predetermined tension such as would result from the impact of a shi with the said cable. The said member 1s preferably connected to its spring through the intermediary of a device which, after a certain movement of the member has taken place, will become detached from the said member so that the spring will not impede the final or firing movement of this member.

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect the same will be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawlngs, in which Figure 1 is an elevation showing more or less dlagrammatically a mine constructed in accordance with the invention, and

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on an enlarged scale of the upper portion of the mine.

A is the mine casing, A is the striker ro d and A2 is the connecting cable of the mlne. B is the aforesaid spring controlled member and` B is'the device by which the .said member is connected to its spring. C 1s a stop member that normally locks the firing mechanism against firing movement,

`and C is the anchor or sinker cable connected'to this stop member.

In the example shown the member B is in the form of a thimble slidably mounted in a casing B2.v This thimble is arranged with its base outermost and its open end contiguous to the upper part of the mine. The base receives the connecting cable A2 and the open end is formed with an internal flange 'b to constitute an abutment for a pin a passing laterally through the outer end of the striker rod. In the normal posi- 'ation of the parts, this pin is situated as shown some distance `from the flange b so as to enable a certain amount of free axial vmovement to occur between the thimble and Athe striker rod. The spring b that controls the thimble surrounds it and abuts at its upper end against the casing B2 and at lits `lower end against the aforesaid device B.

This device comprises a ring which surrounds the lower end of the thimble and 4is detachably connected to the said thimble circumferential groove b3. When the thimble is retracted sufficiently to bring the pins opposite this groove Ithey are pressed outwardly by the spring owing to the pointed or rounded formation of their inner ends and the ringB is thereby disconnected from the thimlble; the spring thus ceases to exert pressure upon the thimble. Shortly after the ring has become 'disengaged from the thim'ble the flange b on the latter comes against the pin a. on the striker rod A so that cont-inued movement of the thimble vretracts the striker and permits the firing of the mine. "The stri-ker head a is shown as rangement of pins similar to that above described, althoughzthis connection might be .of the thimble B.

estab-lished by a -shear pin as is well understood.

The aforesaid casingB2 is provi-ded with= the axis thereof irrespectivey of the position .cf .the cable or ycables in lrelation to lthe mine.

The aforesaid stopmember C is constituted by a plunger mounted yin the .casing YB2 and 'normally lyinoacross the -upper end 'IIiis plunger is .carried by a `spring controlled arm or lever C2 pivloted at C3 to the casino1 and connected to `the anchor or sinkerca le C" which passes throughan eye A3 (Fig. 1) 4carried by the lower part of the mine. 'The plunger is vlocked in its operative position b-y a plug C4 of sal-ammoniac or other soluble substance so that the plunger cannot be .displaced to its disengaging position until the said plug has become dlssolved. The plug is held in position by a screw C3 engaging with the casing -an ybearing against the outer portion of the plug, this screw lbeing formed with suitable apertures to enable Athe sea water to have access tothe plug. The spring controlled arm or lever C2, the plunger() and the soluble plug C4 are disposed within the aforesaid flange B3 of the casing, the cable C passing through a hole in the said Iiange. v

The lower portion of the casing B2 is screw threaded externally to engage'with the usual collar A4 by which the tube a4 coneye A3 at the top. It will thus be observed that in converting the mine from one of the impact. type into one of the `connected type the mine itself has been inverted as is shown by Fig. 1. The interchangeabilityof mines provided for by the improvements is a feature of considerable practical importance.I

What I claim andv desire to secure by Letters Patentv ofthe United States is l. In a submarine m-ine of the connected type, the combination with the firing mechanism, of a member to which the connecting cable is attached, and means interposed between said member and the firing mechanism whereby said member will actuate the firing mechanism only after the connecting cable has been subjected to a predetermined tension. v

2. In a submarine mine of the connected type, the combination with the striker rod of the firing mechanism, of aspring con- :trolledV member to which the connecting cable is attached, and means interposed between said member and the striker rod whereby said member will actu'ate the striker rod only after the connecting cable has been subjected to a predetermined tension.`

3. In a submarinel mine ,of the connected type, the lcombination with Athe striker rod lof the firing mechanism, of a spring con- -trolled member to which the connecting cable is attached, an'k abutment on said member and anotherabutment von said striker rod, said abutments being situated-@some vdistance apart so that they .will come into 'contact krod whereby said member will actuate the striker rod only after the'connecting cable has been subjected to a predetermined tension'and means for liberating lthe striker head from the striker rod after the latter .has been retracted a predetermined distance.

5. In a submarine mine of the connected type, Vthe combination with the striker rod of the firing` mechanisnfn of a spring controlled member to which ythe connecting cajbleis attached, a device normally connectlbefore the latter is retracted by said member.

'6. In a submarine mine of the connected type the combination of a casing, means attached to the connecting cable and carried ing mechanism is attached to the mine, of a 10 by said casing, for actuating the firing mechcasing, means attached to the connecting caanism of the mine and means for attaching ble and carried by said casing, for actuating said casing to the mine in piace of the corthe firing mechanism of the mine, and means responding mechanism of an impact mine. for attaching said casing to said collar in 7. In a submarine mine of the connected place of the corresponding mechanism of an 15 type, the combination with the firing mechimpact mine. anism, of a collar by which a tube contan- In testimony whereof I affix my signature. ing the detonator and the striker of the r- THOMAS KEPPEL NORTH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

